Military Affairs: Year In Review 2006

An underground nuclear test by North Korea, the festering civil war in Iraq, a 34-day war between Israel and Lebanon, increased violence in Afghanistan, intensified fighting in the Darfur region of The Sudan, and the collapse of a four-year-old cease-fire in Sri Lanka all contributed to the turbulence in 2006.

WMD, Arms Control, and Disarmament

In 2006 North Korea became the newest nuclear weapons state; it announced that on October 9 it had conducted an underground nuclear test. An initial lack of evidence to verify that radioactivity had been detected raised questions about what had actually occurred. A week later the United States confirmed the presence of radioactive debris in the atmosphere but said that the North Korean explosion was less than the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT (the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was equal to about 12,500 tons). The test followed months of provocative actions by North Korea, such as the test launch in July of a long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, claimed to be capable of reaching North America. In response to the nuclear test, on October 14 the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1718, which prevented a range of goods from entering or leaving North Korea, banned international travel by North Koreans involved in the nuclear weapons program, and allowed UN member states to inspect cargo moving to and from North Korea.

A UN conference in New York City aimed at strangling the illicit trade of small arms, such as assault rifles and machine guns, ended without a final agreement on measures to reduce the spread of the weapons. Delegates to the July conference also failed to develop a plan for future action. The first meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism was held in October in Morocco. The organization comprised Australia, China, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Turkey, and the Group of Eight industrialized countries. Members pledged to work together to keep their own nuclear materials under control and to combat trafficking in nuclear materials that might end up in the hands of terrorists. The first-ever international agreement obliging belligerents to remove unexploded munitions—such as shells, grenades, cluster bombs, and rockets—left over from the war came into force in November. The Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War, an addition to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, became legally binding after ratification by more than 20 states.

Conflicts

Middle East

The situation in Iraq devolved toward all-out civil war in the months following the bombing in February of a Shiʿite mosque. The incident was a flashpoint for sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiʿites, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that by midyear some 50,000 Iraqis a month were being internally displaced. Many others were fleeing to neighbouring states, particularly Syria and Jordan. In October an estimated 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed, a record high. Over 3,000 coalition troops—more than 2,900 of them Americans—had died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began in 2003. The coalition battled an array of insurgent groups, some loyal to the former regime of Saddam Hussein, some seeking to settle sectarian grievances, and others pursuing a religious war to drive all non-Muslim forces out of the country.

Israel launched numerous incursions into the Gaza Strip to eliminate rocket attacks by Hamas (the main Islamist group calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state) and other Palestinian militant forces. During 2006 more than 1,000 homemade Qassam unguided rockets were fired at Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip, killing several civilians and wounding dozens more. The Israeli raids killed or wounded hundreds of Palestinians.

Hezbollah guerrillas based in Lebanon crossed into Israel in July and captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three others, triggering a 34-day invasion by Israel. (Hezbollah, a Shiʿite Islamist organization, had been fighting Israel since 1982.) Almost 1,000 Lebanese (mostly civilians) and 159 Israelis (mainly soldiers) were killed, and thousands of civilians on both sides of the border fled their homes. A cease-fire agreement called for the 2,000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon, stationed there since 1978, to be reinforced. By November nearly 10,000 UN troops and 2,000 naval personnel from 21 countries had deployed; their mission was to ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon and to help the Lebanese military free the southern part of the country of guerrillas and their weapons.

Caucasus

Sporadic violence continued in Chechnya’s 12-year-old war for independence from Russia, but journalists and human rights workers were largely denied access to the region to confirm the numbers of casualties. Chechen rebel leaders Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev and Shamil Basayev were killed in separate incidents. Basayev was considered the most-wanted criminal in Russia for his role in organizing the 2004 attack on a school in Beslan that left over 300 dead.

South and Central Asia

Afghanistan endured some of the heaviest fighting it had seen since the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001; the number of insurgent attacks on government and allied forces rose to approximately 600 a month in 2006. In October the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) assumed control of nearly all 31,000 non-Afghan alliance troops in the country. Although 37 countries contributed personnel to ISAF, most combat operations were undertaken by troops from the U.S. (12,000, and another 8,000 who remained under direct U.S. command), the U.K. (5,200), Canada (2,300), and The Netherlands (2,100). The increase in ground combat also led to thousands of air strikes by NATO aircraft against suspected Taliban targets.

In an incident first reported in the press in September and subsequently confirmed by U.S. officials, China used a ground-based laser on an unspecified date to “illuminate” a U.S. satellite. Although no damage was apparently done, lasers could be used to disable a satellite.

A decade-long war between the government of Nepal and Maoist guerrillas was brought to an end in November with the signing of a peace accord. The agreement called for the rebels to join a transitional government and have their weapons placed under UN supervision. More than 13,000 people had been killed during the civil war. A 2002 cease-fire between the Sri Lankan government and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) collapsed in April. Violence escalated throughout the year, killing over 3,000 civilians, troops, and LTTE fighters and creating thousands of refugees. More than 67,000 people had died since the war began in 1983.

Southeast Asia

The armed forces of Myanmar (Burma) launched a major offensive against the separatist Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in 2006. For more than 50 years, the KNLA had waged a guerrilla war against the central government. According to humanitarian groups, Burmese forces destroyed more than 200 villages in Karen state, killed dozens of civilians, and created at least 20,000 refugees.

Africa

Militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria attacked pipelines and other facilities and kidnapped foreign oil workers throughout the year. Nigeria was Africa’s biggest oil producer, and the attacks precipitated a 25% drop in its oil output. The militants, under the umbrella Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, sought greater control over the region’s oil wealth.

The Islamic Courts Union militia established control over much of southern Somalia following the capture of the capital, Mogadishu, in June. For most of the previous 15 years, the country had had no effective central government, and the population was left at the mercy of rival warlords. A combination of drought and strict religious law imposed by the Islamic Courts Union drove an estimated 35,000 refugees into neighbouring Kenya. In December Ethiopia launched a military offensive against the Islamist forces to help Somalia’s weak transitional government recapture much of the territory it had lost.

An African Union (AU) force of 7,000 troops in the Darfur region of The Sudan was unable to calm a three-year-old conflict that had claimed the lives of more than 200,000 civilians. Attacks by Arab-influenced Janjawid militias against the black African population intensified, despite a peace deal in May between the Sudanese government and one of the militias. In addition, the government refused to allow the UN to augment the AU force with non-African troops.

A cease-fire was agreed upon between Uganda’s government and the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in August. Tens of thousands of people had been killed and more than a million made refugees in the 20-year conflict. Both sides violated the cease-fire as peace talks continued throughout the year.

Military Technology

An Argentine company developed the first-ever unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) produced in South America. Named Yarara, the UAV was designed for reconnaissance missions.

In April the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency unveiled Crusher, the first of a new generation of large unmanned ground combat vehicles. Crusher weighed 6,350 kg (14,000 lb) fully fueled and was designed to carry a 1,360-kg (3,000-lb) payload and operate in rugged terrain. An operational version might be developed for missions involving surveillance behind enemy lines. The use of unmanned vehicles reflected the U.S. military’s desire to keep personnel farther away from the hazards of direct combat. In September the U.S. Air Force began flight tests of a B-52 bomber using a new synthetic jet fuel made from coal and other hydrocarbon sources. A process first developed by German scientists in the 1920s was used to produce the fuel. The tests were part of a major project to reduce the U.S. military’s reliance on foreign oil. That same month the U.S. Navy christened Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Freedom—the first of a new class of warship. The 115-m (377-ft)-long LCS was designed to operate in coastal waters less than 6 m (20 ft) deep at speeds in excess of 40 knots. Its modular construction allowed it to be reconfigured for various missions, such as antisubmarine warfare, mine warfare, and surface warfare.

Military and Society

In January, French Pres. Jacques Chirac outlined changes to his country’s nuclear weapons policy. He announced that threats to France’s strategic interests might prompt a nuclear response. (SeeWorld Affairs:France.)

The global deployment of UN peacekeepers reached a historic high in 2006, with nearly 81,000 military and police personnel and approximately 15,000 civilians serving in 18 separate missions. Pakistan (9,790 troops), Bangladesh (9,655), and India (9,276) were the top three contributors of personnel. The top three financial contributors were the United States (27% of the total UN peacekeeping budget), Japan (19%), and Germany (9%).

As part of a growing trend to move Japan’s military away from its post-World War II pacifist tradition, the land, sea, and air forces were placed under a new unified command in March. Streamlining of the command structure also brought the Japanese armed forces more into line with those of other countries. In May New Zealand appointed a Maori to head its armed forces for the first time. Maj. Gen. Jerry Mateparae, a former Special Air Services commando, was promoted to lieutenant general when he took the post.

The first recorded incident in which a civilian was killed accidentally by a military UAV occurred in October. The UAV belonged to the Belgian component of a European Union contingent supporting UN operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; it crashed shortly after takeoff from an airport in Kinshasa, the capital. One woman was killed, and three others were injured.

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